Hiiiii, guys! This is Francesca 💕 thank you so much for watching! I never really thought about these words before so it was a very interesting experience! Hope to be back on the channel soon! 💕
It's unclear and debatable whether the hamburger was a German or American invention, but the Hamburg steak in Germany at the time isn't what we'd think of as a hamburger. It seems likely that the hamburger the world knows today, between two buns, was an American invention. Love seeing you on the channel, Francesca! 🍻
it’s funny, i’m not even a native english speaker but even i know about the words like “earworm” and “wanderlust” which, i would say, are pretty commonly used in the english language lol
@@captainobvious8037 If that's true then that's a classic example of a Germanism which has a different meaning in German(e.g. like Spiel, which is just the german word for game) In German it refers to a strategic situation, where you're forced to respond, for example in a chess game or any kind of strategic game.
For english speakers it's funnier to translate the words literally like "Ohrwurm" -> "ear worm" or "sturmfrei" -> "storm free" or "Backpfeifengesicht" -> "slap face".
for many such words it might be possible to guess a meaning (although it might be hilariously wrong) when the literal english translation is given. but for someone who doesn't speak the language and is given no hint on the words or their components, it's impossible to make intelligent guesses by only throwing some letters at them. besides these words that might have no translation, this guessing game can also be done with lots of other words like "wrist band clock", or animals with these literal translations: "naked snail", "lazy animal", "shield toad", "water shield toad", "washing bear", and "stinking animal" :-) but also with these words, almost no intelligent guess can be done by giving only the untranslated german animal names.
Though... literally, "bake pipes face" or "cheek whistle/sweep face" would be the actual translations. Literally AND meaningwise the latter of them. "Backpfeife" in itself already is one of those german compound words, that doesn't exist in english. It's a word for a specific kind of slap. You "pfeif ( = whistle and also modification of the word "fegen" = sweep) a Backe" (= cheek). Basically with the words it's composed of it's describing both, the sweep over someones cheek and the "whistle" the cheek does when it's hit and there is no english equivalent for that word. A slap, as what Backpfeife is wrongfully usually translated, can be anywhere; on an object/hand/butt/face etc. But a Backpfeife only on the cheek. It's kinda as if you'd translate a word meaing "thumb" with "finger".
some of the words weren't explained very well: sturmfrei: The adjective refers to a specific place, not the person themselves. The original (nowadays uncommon) meaning would be from military language, meaning a place (building, fortification, strategic point of interest) is unguarded and free to be conquered. In temporary youth language, it is used in a figurative sense and means a place the youth has acesss to (usually their home, but not always) can be used for a party or other unsupervised fun activity with friends because parents/guardians will not be present. Backpfeifengesicht: Combined of the oldfashioned word Backpfeife = a hard slap to the cheek and Gesicht = face, means a face that looks like it was made to be slapped. This insult can either be used for people who show an annoying facial expression (like a smug grin you'd love to wipe of their face with a slap) or for people you just consider ugly (if you are a bully who likes to slap uglies). Erbsenzähler (literally: pea counter): It's doesn't really mean control freak, it refers to a pedantic person who would double-check and/or correct even the smallest unimportant details or who behaves petty about very small things ("You made that payment two weeks late, so you still owe me 2 cent interest!"). He isn't necessarily a person who is suspicious of other people or who insists on checking everything by himself. Of course many Erbsenzähler may also be control freaks, but that's not what the word means.
Agree with all of your explanations, but it's always a bit hard when you're put on the spot to come up with very eloquent descriptions of vague concepts, so I think it's okay to cut Francesca a bit of slack here.
Agree, but keep in mind there are modern translations for something and old ones. The way she describes the words is 100% what I would explain to someone in english to just get in their mind what kind of word it is. Because I would never use Sturmfrei in the context u came up with. And the explanation that u gave is pretty much the same information. An Erbsenzähler is what you would call a control freak in english. What you are doing is counting peas :D Because it is not necessary at all.
@@tnc7004 I agree on the contemporary use of sturmfrei. I disagree on the word controlfreak, that's absolutely NOT the same as a "pea counter". Again: A pea counter is someone who is overly correct and/or petty about small details, it has nothing to do at all with control. For example, you could probably call me a pea counter for my two posts here, but you probably wouldn't get the silly idea to call me a control freak. Because I'm not trying to control what other people do or to supervise other people's work, I'm just pointing out inaccurate statements and providing additional information that other people (e.g. you) consider unnecessary. Control freaks are people who feel the urge to be in charge, regulate how everything is done and have issues to trust other people's work, so they will try to double check everything for themselves. None of those qualities is associated with the word Erbsenzähler. Most control freaks are probably also Erbsenzähler, but many Erbsenzähler aren't control freaks. A control freak would usually be called "Kontrollfanatiker" or "Kontrollfreak" in German. The special brand of control freak who likes to control their neighbors and would argue with them or report them and complain about them to authorities for minor (true or imaginded) misdemeanors would be called "Blockwart" or "Querulant".
Fun fact: the english have also the term earworm, but it didn‘t mean the same as Ohrwurm. The german meaning of Ohrwurm was later applied to the english word earworm
@@sessyfan791 It seems you do not understand. The english had the word earworm, but it had a different meaning originally. Then they came across the german Ohrwurm and applied the same meaning to their word earworm. So today it‘s the same, but it wasn‘t a couple of decades ago
in german many words "describe" its meaning, so it can make sense to translate them direct because they are build up depending on their specific use. like "erbsenzähler", its "zähler" (counter) of "erbsen" (pea's)... as you notice, these are multiple words togehter to give them a special meaning... so the last word is mostly the "main word", and the words before are the words that describe it or make it more specific.. you could also say "schäfchenzähler" which translate to counter of sheeps (if you cant sleep, you count sheeps to fall asleep) so you see the main word "counter" is not at the beginning, its at the end (zähler)... and the specification "of sheeps" is not at the end, its at the beginning (schäfchen) --> Schäfchenzähler counter of sheeps... another example --> a krankenwagen (amulance) is a weagon for sick ppl ( "kranke" means "sick" (plural) and "wagen" means "weagon") and a "einkaufswagen" is an shopping cart (a weagon for shopping (einkauf=shopping)) and a "leichenwagen" (hearse) is a weagon for corpse (leiche=corpse) ... we dont have single words for these, we just build them up by their logical meaning.. its like a formula of creating words a example all of you know is "kindergarden".. its actually a garden (garten) for kids (kinder)... so its exactly the same logic for more difficult words like "zugszwang" you have to translate and then think in a logical way what that could mean.. so zwang = force and zug = move so "moveforce"... and since force is the secound word, so the "main word", it would mean "forced to move"... you are in a position where you have to make a move... where you have to react... like i chess, when your opponent made a move, your in zugzwang. thats also why peaople say that german is a very direct, straight or logical language... u dont have fancy words that sound nice or romantic, you just come to the point^^
I learned about the word Backpfeifengesicht in my German class. Our translation was "A face in need of a punch". It became a fun word that my friends in class would use to describe other kids because it was a funny German word that nobody would understand but us.
This was a lost opportunity to teach something much much more helpful than a few german words. The fact that many languages share a lot of their basics. So by looking more closely at those words, she could have deciphered a couple of them. Right from the start with the "american" words, doppelganger, doppel is similar to double. And kindergarten, garten=garden. Not so hard to guess. Play around with the word a bit to see if it can be pronounced almost like a word in your own language. If it's a long word, divide it and see if parts of it could sound familiar. Sturmfrei. Storm and free. Very similar. But to guess that means home alone is a bit trickier. :) Ohrwurm. Ear and worm. And so on. A couple of years ago I was in Spain, nobody in our group knew any spanish at all, but we visited that western movie "village" where they have filmed so many westerns and we got a tour guide that only spoke spanish. Yeah. Great.. But from the spanish he spoke and from the swedish, english and german we spoke and the old western movies we knew we could decipher pretty much every movie he pointed out locations for. "Zorro" was pretty easy. :P "C'era una volta il West". We knew una meant one, West is west. ??? But then he said something more "... harmonica.." and then I thought. Wasn't there a movie where the hero played the harmonica? Which one was that? Long title, one... west. "Once upon a time in the west". I remember that one specifically since it was a really tricky one to decipher. :) Also at a golf course I could read a spanish sign that said something like "Forbidden to enter the gardens" when there was houses just outside the golf course. The same thing but even better when I'm in the Netherlands. I speak swedish, english and a bit of german. Knowing those three languages I can read dutch and understand pretty much everything. You don't have to know everything to understand it.
@@that-possum-guy3209 It was quite a few years ago so I don't really remember, but he could have, it's the original title. Perhaps he said it both in Spanish and in Italian. Since we didn't really know what he was saying, it's hard to say. :)
That true for American Sign Language. Some signing doesn't have English translation but it make sense. Weird? I'm deaf but I pretty much understood what you said.
Hamburgers are actually from America though. Beef formed into a Patty was created by a butcher in Hamburg but putting the meat between two slices of bread started in America.
Zugzwang is a known word in english. English speaking chess players use it all the time. It means you are forced (zwang) to make a bad move (Zug) because it's your turn to move. Move-forced (Zugzwang).
with Erbsenzähler she said "peas" not "pieces". So youre counting every single pea that youre gonna eat. Hence being picky and trying to control everything.
4:00 There are more words next to Erbsenzähler (Pea counter) for overcorrect controlfreaking people, like: Haarspalter (Hair splitter) or Korinthenkacker (Currant shitter)
Hamburger, in terms of the processed raw meat, is originally German. It is the cooked hamburger that was first introduced in the US, at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO, if I'm not mistaken. I also feel like "wunderlust" is pretty familiar to Americans, though we sometimes Anglicize the spelling as "wanderlust."
I don’t know how to spell that word, but I was on a boat that day, and other country songs and songs, I listen to, on a daily basis, are basically always in my head all the time
Yes. It isn't neccessarly softer, but definitely older and kind of outdated. "Backpfeifen" being used to discribe slaps or punches isn't really common anymore.
Maybe ohrwurm is where we get the term ear worm because that's what we would say we have if we get a song stuck in our head so in that sense it does have an English translation. I really love the makeup on the American girl. I can't pull off that color lipstick but it looks so perfect on her especially when she smiles.
IIRC the term ear worm was only developed in English in recent years as a direct adaptation of Ohrwurm (after the word Ohrwurm has come up in just about every list of funny German words that have no English equivalent that anyone put on the internet)
the German girl shouldve directly translated it before the American girl had a shot at guessing. Cause otherwise there's usually no way she can even remotely guess it.
We do have a cognate for Ohrwurm in English. It’s Earworms and it literally means when a song, or lyrics of a song are stuck in your head. We also have Wanderlust in English but it was borrowed from German. The reason we don’t have single words that translate to some of these German ones are because the German ones themselves are combinations between two or more German words into one. Like Sturmfrei is a combination of the German words: Sturm (storm) and Frei (free) 😂
Both are very recent additions to their respective languages and they both borrowed it from German. Recent in like the last 20 years. Earworm has spread a lot in English in the last 10-15 years, so the producers of this video are not quite up to speed on this. But for a long time it was a word that didn't really exist in the common English in vocabulary and would be a favorite word of Germans to explain to English speakers, since it is a common phenomenon that would come up in conversations but lacked a word in English.
Wanderlust was the only word I understood right away, English speakers who're fond of traveling occasionally use it, and it's a portmanteau of two words that sound and mean basically the same thing in German and English, so it can be easy to figure out even if you're hearing the word for the first time.
but the meaning is slightly different. in german is is more of a "hiking desire", in contrast to "Fernweh" which is the opposite of Heimweh (home sick)
There is an English expression for Erbsenzähler which is almost the same: bean counter (condescending description of an accountant). In German it is used a bit broader to describe the character trait of someone being overly precise and pedantic but also the same way to describe an accountant in a diminishing way within the financial industry. Curious though why German accountants count peas and Americans count beans 😂 … also, the Ohrwurm becomes clearer really quickly if you translate literally to earworm. Btw there is also the actual insect Ohrwurm which would be an earwig (I know, gross) 🥵… Wanderlust could also be broken down into ‚to wander‘ and ‚lust‘, i.e. someone who likes walking / to wander around, has therefore Wanderlust. Backpfeifengesicht was particularly funny, again quite literally ‚slappable face‘ … I could imagine saying that to someone 😂
Midwestern, absolutely exists in America, not *super* common as most people would just say "a song stuck in my head" or refer to something as catchy or a hook, but definitely have heard earworm used to describe it
Orhwurm -> earworm - literally the same thing. An earworm is a song that once you hear it, you can't stop hearing it in your head. Erbsenzähler -> beancounter or possibly a priss. More generally 'fastidous'. Wanderlust -> wanderlust (uh...) Zugzwang -> duress
Entshuldigung Frauen. "Ohrwurm" is vey similar to a phrase we have in English. "Ear worm" or a catchy song that you can't get out of your head. I don't know if that is just a thing in the local dialect or not. Germany does take home the trophy for compound words however.
for such a guessing game, they should at least give the literal translations, to have a chance to do intelligent (and yet still often hilarious) guesses.
@@videomailYT I still don't see the difference. If a German kid gets a funny feeling in the stomach, feels queasy, or is a little ill from feeling torn from home, the word to use is still 'Heimweh'. Weh doesn't restrict itself to emotional pain. Weh *is* originally another term for discomfort *and* pain.
I believe she mistranslated the Word Wanderlust or rather she may have mistakenly described the meaning of "Fernweh" and not Wanderlust. Fernweh: If you want to travel and Look towards foreign Lands with a sort of longing Wanderlust: the Joy of Walking/Hiking.
Sturmfrei - "there's is no reason for older people to use it" Girl your Grandparents used it, your Parents used it, it is not your Generations word ......
5:20 OMG, I know that is a stereotype, but it just so true One of my german teacher even asked us to count how many words we have written in total during this semester Others Germany teacher that I meet don’t do it, but they also love to planning things, and everything have a Format, u have to follow the Format they provided I’m sorry but they just obsessed with planning, details, Format etc (Which is not a bad things in a certain way? But as a foreigner, I don’t get used to it lol) btw, Francesca speaks German so elegantly, I learned German for over 3 years, and never imagine German can be that graceful My stereotype of German pronunciation is just like “It’s a language that sounds serious and stiff.” I’m sorry, my bad lol
@Hellequin Maskharat can’t agree with u more, I think that’s why Germany can be the top tier when it comes to engineering and stuffs related to this field Yeah I know Germany have a great legacy in music or poetry etc, but before I study German, the mostly German that I heard are from movies, „Der Untergang“ in specific lol, it might be the reason how I got the stereotype And even now I still think German is a “serious” feeling type of language, maybe because of the way s, sch, t, h words pronounce ( don’t get me wrong, I love German, but it just the way I feel when hearing people speaks German) Maybe I should study more literature of Germany haha In my personal feelings, German is quite like Spanish when it comes to listening and understanding, u can understand it when people speaks slowly (cuz u can hear the whole pronunciation of the words), but when people speaks faster, the words would stick together That makes me hard to understand it in fast paced speaking scenarios Hoping that I could conquer this difficulty in the future
Ohrwurm technically is translatable and it has the exact same meaning ohr is ear and wurm is worm, and ear worm is when you have music stuck in your head involuntary and can be really annoying sometimes I get it a lot
Wanderlust is a word we have in english, we just took it from Germany. ‘Wander’ is like aimless traveling and ‘lust’ is like desire (in this case); so means a desire to travel. I actually didn’t know we got this word from Germany until this video😅
The thing is.... because in german you just take two words and it becomes a new word, there are trillion words that do not exists in english. Like, Hefezopfvorkoster
Verschlimbessern or Kaputtreparieren are actual Words.. They are pretty specific but are used for situations, when someone tries to fix something, but makes it worse....
Backpfeifengesicht basically means "To have a face worth slapping." It's not used much because basically it never applies to anyone. There is no such thing as a face naturally worth slapping. It's used in a comedic absurdism sense.^^
Sturmfrei seems similar to the Amish rumspringa, the period when an Amish turns 16 and has not yet been baptized and confirmed in the Amish church so they are free to explore their party side till they decide on being Amish or going their own way...
Interestingly here in the UK if we say "this song is an earworm" it means that it's a song that gets stuck in your head, which in German is Ohrwurm. I wonder if that's because Germany and the UK are both in Europe?
“Earworm” exists in American English as well. This video is making the mistake of thinking that because a word is not part of an individual’s vocabulary it is not part of the lexicon.
Earworm meaning 'song stuck in your head' was only recently added to the English vocabulary. It is a loan translation from German. 10 or 20 years ago you would have been far less likely to find someone in USA or UK who knows what it means.
I live in Germany for 10 years now and I never heard Zugzwang until now. Nor the two "insults" Backpfeifengesicht (although that one I already read once) and Erbsenzähler.
Hey megan the only food culture created here in the United States is the cajun cerol food, also the hurricane and the desert bananas foster was created in New Orleans as well.
@@spk1121 hamburgers were created in Germany, potato chips were invented in the English isles (Scotland mostly), and yes lobster was eaten here in this continent as far back as 15kyrs ago, but, the roll itself wasn't created until very recently..
wow this was sooo interesting !! in italian we have some words that don't have a direct english translation too, but these german ones were oddly specific lol, loved them and the vid !
Probably each language has some words that can not be directly translated into other languages. For example there are no German words for 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'. While for married people there are words the non-married relationship status is usually handled with possessive pronouns.
@@elisapennYes this is very likely. Just for fun I will add another word not mentioned in the video that exist in German but not in English. This word is 'Kaiserwetter'. Literally translated this is 'Emperor weather' and its meaning is sunny weather where the sky is deep blue with not clouds. It is used when there are perfect weather conditions. It is debated where this word originates from but either from the German emperor Wilhelm II or from emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria (or maybe from both). Apparently it was that when the German emperor showed up at an event then there was good weather (or probably the other way around, that he only showed up when there was good weather) which solidified the connection between good weather and the emperor. Beside this the Austrian emperor had his birthday at August 18th which was celebrated each year. As at this day there was almost every year very good weather and due to the fact Franz-Joseph was emperor for almost 68 years people also made a connection between the emperor and good weather.
@@patrickm3981 that's very interesting, thank you for your addition ! in italy we just say “è tempo bello” which literally translates into "it's good weather" but yeah, it's got the same meaning
Sturmfrei... There is a reason for older people to use it. Like when you are married and and partner is on a weekend vacation and you can invite all or friends and do gaming, eating chips and drink beer the whole Saturday.
I have heard english speakers use "earworm". Granted, it was mostly by expats living in germany for some time, but still... And about "Erbsenzähler": It's even that common that we have synonyms which are no less ridiculous like "korinthenkacker" (literally: "raisin shitter")
I thought sturmfrei is the word you use when you can come home early from school because there is a storm or something like that, at least that is how everyone used it, even teachers and students used it (I live in Germany, I know what I am talking about)
Erbsenzähler in Dutch , or Flemish , I don't know if they say that in the Netherlands , is " Muggenzifter" , what means Mosquito Sifter? - Fault finder .
German Americans are the largest ancestry group in the US. About 43 million citizens of the USA (15% of the total population) have German ancestry. In some regions, for example the upper Midwest, it's even as high as 30%. No wonder some German words made it into (American) English.
right. Because of WW1 and WW2, the ethnic Germans gave up more and more of their culture and language, because Germanophobia was very strong in the US. Resentment also existed during the Civil War, because the majority of them stayed out of it and rejected slavery before. Today, they are more aware of their roots again.
@@heidi_bavarian1725 The English first settled what would become the East Coast of the United States but much of the interior - now known as the Midwest and Great Plains - was settled by German and Irish immigrants.
4:34 Erbsen means "peas" (the food), not "piece". Maybe you should let someone that knows German look over the subtitles when they're done. But nice video.
English is basically a Germanic language. For example Croatian has 80% words based on other language mostly based on: German, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian and Russian.
Развлечения
Sometimes translating it fully helps as Erbsenzähler means pea counter. So crazy they even count their peas
Ein erbsenzähler ist aber niemand der verrückt ist, sondern kleinlich
@@scarlettdevina7054 aber wenn du deine erbsen zählst bist du sehr wahrscheinlich verrückt xD
@@jeffscookies3236 🤣🤣
@@jeffscookies3236 Das Problem mit den Erbsenzählern ist ja, dass sie meistens gerade nicht ihre eigenen Erbsen zählen :)
@@nari5025 dann bist du aber noch verrückter xD
Francesca made me want to learn German again , I've studied last year and then I stopped , but she made the language cute and graceful
Me too We could learn together ...I'm okay with reading and pronouncing and spelling just doesn't sound German enough when I speak
I took an A1 with the Goethe institute in my country
interesting
Incredible, my friend. I hope you can learn it easily. I believe in you. You can do it. Good luck 🥰🥰🥰
@@amoasiwa.n6598 Prima ❤️❤️❤️
Hiiiii, guys! This is Francesca 💕 thank you so much for watching! I never really thought about these words before so it was a very interesting experience! Hope to be back on the channel soon! 💕
most of them are rather unconventional so proos to you for explaining them that well ;)
I'll be looking forward to it!!
Finally I found you
Cereal is an American invented food! Ha!
I think coffee is too?
It's unclear and debatable whether the hamburger was a German or American invention, but the Hamburg steak in Germany at the time isn't what we'd think of as a hamburger. It seems likely that the hamburger the world knows today, between two buns, was an American invention.
Love seeing you on the channel, Francesca! 🍻
it’s funny, i’m not even a native english speaker but even i know about the words like “earworm” and “wanderlust” which, i would say, are pretty commonly used in the english language lol
True, i thought everybody knows those two.. and Zugzwang, it's when you're on the train and urgently have to make a deposit.
Albeit less common, if you are a chess player you also would know the term Zugzwang.
@@forkless Riiight, when you are forced to make a bad move. That is where threefold repetition often sees use.
@@captainobvious8037 If that's true then that's a classic example of a Germanism which has a different meaning in German(e.g. like Spiel, which is just the german word for game)
In German it refers to a strategic situation, where you're forced to respond, for example in a chess game or any kind of strategic game.
@@jonasrmb01 It's not true, i was joking
For english speakers it's funnier to translate the words literally like "Ohrwurm" -> "ear worm" or "sturmfrei" -> "storm free" or "Backpfeifengesicht" -> "slap face".
for many such words it might be possible to guess a meaning (although it might be hilariously wrong) when the literal english translation is given. but for someone who doesn't speak the language and is given no hint on the words or their components, it's impossible to make intelligent guesses by only throwing some letters at them.
besides these words that might have no translation, this guessing game can also be done with lots of other words like "wrist band clock", or animals with these literal translations: "naked snail", "lazy animal", "shield toad", "water shield toad", "washing bear", and "stinking animal" :-)
but also with these words, almost no intelligent guess can be done by giving only the untranslated german animal names.
Though... literally, "bake pipes face" or "cheek whistle/sweep face" would be the actual translations. Literally AND meaningwise the latter of them.
"Backpfeife" in itself already is one of those german compound words, that doesn't exist in english. It's a word for a specific kind of slap.
You "pfeif ( = whistle and also modification of the word "fegen" = sweep) a Backe" (= cheek). Basically with the words it's composed of it's describing both, the sweep over someones cheek and the "whistle" the cheek does when it's hit and there is no english equivalent for that word.
A slap, as what Backpfeife is wrongfully usually translated, can be anywhere; on an object/hand/butt/face etc. But a Backpfeife only on the cheek. It's kinda as if you'd translate a word meaing "thumb" with "finger".
some of the words weren't explained very well:
sturmfrei: The adjective refers to a specific place, not the person themselves. The original (nowadays uncommon) meaning would be from military language, meaning a place (building, fortification, strategic point of interest) is unguarded and free to be conquered. In temporary youth language, it is used in a figurative sense and means a place the youth has acesss to (usually their home, but not always) can be used for a party or other unsupervised fun activity with friends because parents/guardians will not be present.
Backpfeifengesicht: Combined of the oldfashioned word Backpfeife = a hard slap to the cheek and Gesicht = face, means a face that looks like it was made to be slapped. This insult can either be used for people who show an annoying facial expression (like a smug grin you'd love to wipe of their face with a slap) or for people you just consider ugly (if you are a bully who likes to slap uglies).
Erbsenzähler (literally: pea counter): It's doesn't really mean control freak, it refers to a pedantic person who would double-check and/or correct even the smallest unimportant details or who behaves petty about very small things ("You made that payment two weeks late, so you still owe me 2 cent interest!"). He isn't necessarily a person who is suspicious of other people or who insists on checking everything by himself. Of course many Erbsenzähler may also be control freaks, but that's not what the word means.
Agree with all of your explanations, but it's always a bit hard when you're put on the spot to come up with very eloquent descriptions of vague concepts, so I think it's okay to cut Francesca a bit of slack here.
Agree, but keep in mind there are modern translations for something and old ones. The way she describes the words is 100% what I would explain to someone in english to just get in their mind what kind of word it is.
Because I would never use Sturmfrei in the context u came up with. And the explanation that u gave is pretty much the same information. An Erbsenzähler is what you would call a control freak in english.
What you are doing is counting peas :D
Because it is not necessary at all.
@@tnc7004 I agree on the contemporary use of sturmfrei. I disagree on the word controlfreak, that's absolutely NOT the same as a "pea counter". Again: A pea counter is someone who is overly correct and/or petty about small details, it has nothing to do at all with control. For example, you could probably call me a pea counter for my two posts here, but you probably wouldn't get the silly idea to call me a control freak. Because I'm not trying to control what other people do or to supervise other people's work, I'm just pointing out inaccurate statements and providing additional information that other people (e.g. you) consider unnecessary.
Control freaks are people who feel the urge to be in charge, regulate how everything is done and have issues to trust other people's work, so they will try to double check everything for themselves. None of those qualities is associated with the word Erbsenzähler.
Most control freaks are probably also Erbsenzähler, but many Erbsenzähler aren't control freaks.
A control freak would usually be called "Kontrollfanatiker" or "Kontrollfreak" in German. The special brand of control freak who likes to control their neighbors and would argue with them or report them and complain about them to authorities for minor (true or imaginded) misdemeanors would be called "Blockwart" or "Querulant".
@@chrisrudolf9839 okay I can agree with that!
You are an Erbsenzähler
Fun fact: the english have also the term earworm, but it didn‘t mean the same as Ohrwurm. The german meaning of Ohrwurm was later applied to the english word earworm
l
In Dutch oorwurm means earwig.
But earworm seem to be used in some regions? I mean 'The Big Bang Theory' used that word and even with the same meaning "Ohrwurm" has.
@@sessyfan791
It seems you do not understand. The english had the word earworm, but it had a different meaning originally. Then they came across the german Ohrwurm and applied the same meaning to their word earworm.
So today it‘s the same, but it wasn‘t a couple of decades ago
@@and.me_7390 Thanks for explaining =)
Also for some words the producer made a typo I think :( same for the subs🥺 the team is not German they are all Koreans so please understand 🥺💕
Love 💕💕💕💕 from Pakistan/ Love 💕💕💕💕 from Pakistan/ Love 💕💕💕💕 from Pakistan/ Love 💕💕💕💕 from Pakistan/
Hi Francesca
We totally understand, Thanks Francesca!
Zis is unacseptable.
"Gesichtselfmeter"
"Taube Nuss"
"Schabracke"
"Vollpfosten"
"Schnapsidee"
"Stubenhocker"
"Kabelsalat"
in german many words "describe" its meaning, so it can make sense to translate them direct because they are build up depending on their specific use.
like "erbsenzähler", its "zähler" (counter) of "erbsen" (pea's)... as you notice, these are multiple words togehter to give them a special meaning... so the last word is mostly the "main word", and the words before are the words that describe it or make it more specific.. you could also say "schäfchenzähler" which translate to counter of sheeps (if you cant sleep, you count sheeps to fall asleep) so you see the main word "counter" is not at the beginning, its at the end (zähler)... and the specification "of sheeps" is not at the end, its at the beginning (schäfchen) --> Schäfchenzähler counter of sheeps...
another example --> a krankenwagen (amulance) is a weagon for sick ppl ( "kranke" means "sick" (plural) and "wagen" means "weagon") and a "einkaufswagen" is an shopping cart (a weagon for shopping (einkauf=shopping)) and a "leichenwagen" (hearse) is a weagon for corpse (leiche=corpse) ... we dont have single words for these, we just build them up by their logical meaning.. its like a formula of creating words
a example all of you know is "kindergarden".. its actually a garden (garten) for kids (kinder)... so its exactly the same logic
for more difficult words like "zugszwang" you have to translate and then think in a logical way what that could mean.. so zwang = force and zug = move so "moveforce"... and since force is the secound word, so the "main word", it would mean "forced to move"... you are in a position where you have to make a move... where you have to react... like i chess, when your opponent made a move, your in zugzwang.
thats also why peaople say that german is a very direct, straight or logical language... u dont have fancy words that sound nice or romantic, you just come to the point^^
I learned Germany when I was a high school students and I would say that Germany is one language that I can learn easily.
wie cool :)
I love the way Francesca talks. Gentle and lovely accent.
Exactly! Anyone would love her as a German teacher
Me too, my friend
in german she didn't use an accent. she said all german words in "hochdeutsch / high german" / normal german without accent.
it is a bit of over-feminized, like a cartoon of a girl. Nothing i would want.
@@bufferl I'm pretty sure they mean her German accent when she speaks english
I enjoyed it. Very kind girl helping to pronounce.
I learned about the word Backpfeifengesicht in my German class. Our translation was "A face in need of a punch". It became a fun word that my friends in class would use to describe other kids because it was a funny German word that nobody would understand but us.
As a German, personaly I think your translation is more fitting than the one in the video.
@@MissMilkyStar Thank you. Our teacher was a native German, so I think that helped.
Nobody I know uses Backpfeifengesicht, this is the first time I even heard of this word, is this really a thing?
a secret language? ^^
@@kira890 apparently?
I love Megan is very beautiful, she has beautiful eyes and a wonderful smile, and Francesca too 👩🏻🦰👱🏻♀️
This channel is really nice! Subscribed instantly
Francesca is really sweet honestly. Also, helps me since I'm still learning German through Duolingo, and has been honestly really good im that app.
Great, my friend. Duolingo is really useful app. I hope you can learn easily. I believe in you. Good luck in this process
I'm gruntled to hear that you're learning german. Find ich echt knorke! ^w^
Each episode makes a smile, thx
"Ohrwurm" sounds like it might be the word for "ear worm."
it is, they should have explained it
Cooles Video, ist euch echt gelungen. Danke 👍🏼
This was a lost opportunity to teach something much much more helpful than a few german words. The fact that many languages share a lot of their basics. So by looking more closely at those words, she could have deciphered a couple of them. Right from the start with the "american" words, doppelganger, doppel is similar to double. And kindergarten, garten=garden. Not so hard to guess. Play around with the word a bit to see if it can be pronounced almost like a word in your own language. If it's a long word, divide it and see if parts of it could sound familiar.
Sturmfrei. Storm and free. Very similar. But to guess that means home alone is a bit trickier. :)
Ohrwurm. Ear and worm.
And so on. A couple of years ago I was in Spain, nobody in our group knew any spanish at all, but we visited that western movie "village" where they have filmed so many westerns and we got a tour guide that only spoke spanish. Yeah. Great.. But from the spanish he spoke and from the swedish, english and german we spoke and the old western movies we knew we could decipher pretty much every movie he pointed out locations for. "Zorro" was pretty easy. :P "C'era una volta il West". We knew una meant one, West is west. ??? But then he said something more "... harmonica.." and then I thought. Wasn't there a movie where the hero played the harmonica? Which one was that? Long title, one... west. "Once upon a time in the west". I remember that one specifically since it was a really tricky one to decipher. :)
Also at a golf course I could read a spanish sign that said something like "Forbidden to enter the gardens" when there was houses just outside the golf course.
The same thing but even better when I'm in the Netherlands. I speak swedish, english and a bit of german. Knowing those three languages I can read dutch and understand pretty much everything.
You don't have to know everything to understand it.
Are you sure he spoke Spanish? 'cause “C'era una volta il west” is Italian. 😂
@@that-possum-guy3209 It was quite a few years ago so I don't really remember, but he could have, it's the original title. Perhaps he said it both in Spanish and in Italian. Since we didn't really know what he was saying, it's hard to say. :)
That true for American Sign Language. Some signing doesn't have English translation but it make sense. Weird? I'm deaf but I pretty much understood what you said.
Hamburgers are actually from America though. Beef formed into a Patty was created by a butcher in Hamburg but putting the meat between two slices of bread started in America.
Most of the words today I didn't know,except for zugzwang,I knew that one from Last Exile.👍👍👍
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Zugzwang is a known word in english. English speaking chess players use it all the time. It means you are forced (zwang) to make a bad move (Zug) because it's your turn to move. Move-forced (Zugzwang).
with Erbsenzähler she said "peas" not "pieces". So youre counting every single pea that youre gonna eat. Hence being picky and trying to control everything.
‘Ohrwurm’ = ‘earworm’, something that people say in English anyway.
*staring in Southern*
"No, you Yankees don't have your own food...speek for yourselves!!!"
The expression "sturmfrei" is also used by older people, when you're Home alone.
From TV-series Friends I learned that the USA uses: Fussball table. The game of soccer table.
She said peas the subtitles pieces haha
4:00 There are more words next to Erbsenzähler (Pea counter) for overcorrect controlfreaking people, like: Haarspalter (Hair splitter) or Korinthenkacker (Currant shitter)
Hamburger, in terms of the processed raw meat, is originally German. It is the cooked hamburger that was first introduced in the US, at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO, if I'm not mistaken. I also feel like "wunderlust" is pretty familiar to Americans, though we sometimes Anglicize the spelling as "wanderlust."
Wanderlust is the german version...
When I have a song stuck in my head I call that an ear worm
Francesca is cute and patient and Megan is funny and smart. German is not easy to hack and explain in simplificated mode. Great Job my Girls.🥃🥃🥃👍👍👍🍹🧁🍷
i am actually from germany and sometimes i really have to laugh about how german sounds 💀
I don’t know how to spell that word, but I was on a boat that day, and other country songs and songs, I listen to, on a daily basis, are basically always in my head all the time
is "Backpfeifengesicht" just a softer version of fist-magnet?
I guess so. I would explain Backpfeifengesicht with Face begging to be slapped
Yes. It isn't neccessarly softer, but definitely older and kind of outdated. "Backpfeifen" being used to discribe slaps or punches isn't really common anymore.
i would say that it's a "face so stupid that it asks to be slapped"
Maybe ohrwurm is where we get the term ear worm because that's what we would say we have if we get a song stuck in our head so in that sense it does have an English translation.
I really love the makeup on the American girl. I can't pull off that color lipstick but it looks so perfect on her especially when she smiles.
Yes, that's where it comes from.
IIRC the term ear worm was only developed in English in recent years as a direct adaptation of Ohrwurm (after the word Ohrwurm has come up in just about every list of funny German words that have no English equivalent that anyone put on the internet)
Sturmfrei means literally free to storm..
so your place is free to be stormed by a lot of people aka a big party
my friend is called Francecsa and we call her Fran. She's British just like me
"Zugzwang" is easy for a chess player 😁
echt? so i should learn more
🤭🤭🥃🥃👍👍
Same as Zwischenzug!
@@ulvessens5902 oh that's i already know👍
Abzugschach.
the German girl shouldve directly translated it before the American girl had a shot at guessing. Cause otherwise there's usually no way she can even remotely guess it.
Ohrwurm is basically earworm innit? That's what we usually label a song that gets easily stuck in one's head "oh that's such an earworm!"
Megan is so extremely funny, love it.
As a german who doesn't know any funny ppl that's refreshing
American girl so confident
We do have a cognate for Ohrwurm in English. It’s Earworms and it literally means when a song, or lyrics of a song are stuck in your head. We also have Wanderlust in English but it was borrowed from German. The reason we don’t have single words that translate to some of these German ones are because the German ones themselves are combinations between two or more German words into one. Like Sturmfrei is a combination of the German words: Sturm (storm) and Frei (free) 😂
it would be funy to make a video trying to pronounce the longest german words
earworm is a word in english and in french "ver d'oreille"
yep, isn't it literally the same thing in German?
Both are very recent additions to their respective languages and they both borrowed it from German. Recent in like the last 20 years. Earworm has spread a lot in English in the last 10-15 years, so the producers of this video are not quite up to speed on this. But for a long time it was a word that didn't really exist in the common English in vocabulary and would be a favorite word of Germans to explain to English speakers, since it is a common phenomenon that would come up in conversations but lacked a word in English.
Erbsenzaller (pea-tallier) in English is beancounter
0:47 I was like what is that lmao. Sturmfrei hahaa
Wanderlust was the only word I understood right away, English speakers who're fond of traveling occasionally use it, and it's a portmanteau of two words that sound and mean basically the same thing in German and English, so it can be easy to figure out even if you're hearing the word for the first time.
but the meaning is slightly different. in german is is more of a "hiking desire", in contrast to "Fernweh" which is the opposite of Heimweh (home sick)
Almost, yeah :)
Lust has a slightly different connotation in English and German, but it's roughly the same.
Ohr = Ear
Wurm = Worm
Ohrwurm = Earworm
After all they are both germanic languages
There is an English expression for Erbsenzähler which is almost the same: bean counter (condescending description of an accountant). In German it is used a bit broader to describe the character trait of someone being overly precise and pedantic but also the same way to describe an accountant in a diminishing way within the financial industry. Curious though why German accountants count peas and Americans count beans 😂 … also, the Ohrwurm becomes clearer really quickly if you translate literally to earworm. Btw there is also the actual insect Ohrwurm which would be an earwig (I know, gross) 🥵… Wanderlust could also be broken down into ‚to wander‘ and ‚lust‘, i.e. someone who likes walking / to wander around, has therefore Wanderlust. Backpfeifengesicht was particularly funny, again quite literally ‚slappable face‘ … I could imagine saying that to someone 😂
Actually, we just translated Ohrwurm as Earworm & it has been in usage for at least a decade now. It means the same thing.
Ohrwurm does have a translation. The English for it is Earworm. So maybe the word does not exist in American.
Midwestern, absolutely exists in America, not *super* common as most people would just say "a song stuck in my head" or refer to something as catchy or a hook, but definitely have heard earworm used to describe it
Earwig. But that's an insect.
Orhwurm -> earworm - literally the same thing. An earworm is a song that once you hear it, you can't stop hearing it in your head.
Erbsenzähler -> beancounter or possibly a priss. More generally 'fastidous'.
Wanderlust -> wanderlust (uh...)
Zugzwang -> duress
Entshuldigung Frauen. "Ohrwurm" is vey similar to a phrase we have in English. "Ear worm" or a catchy song that you can't get out of your head. I don't know if that is just a thing in the local dialect or not. Germany does take home the trophy for compound words however.
Poor Megan , I am just like her about the german language , I only know the basics like "Hallo , Ich bin , wo" 😂
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for such a guessing game, they should at least give the literal translations, to have a chance to do intelligent (and yet still often hilarious) guesses.
^^ Heimweh is often translated as homesickness but the English and the German word have a different meaning in each language... 🤷
Do they?
Heimweh is the painful longing you feel as you're away from home.
Isn't homesickness the same?
@@RagingGoblin no it isn't. Because that would mean you're getting sick (or ill). But you're sad, that's the meaning from Heimweh
@@videomailYT I still don't see the difference. If a German kid gets a funny feeling in the stomach, feels queasy, or is a little ill from feeling torn from home, the word to use is still 'Heimweh'.
Weh doesn't restrict itself to emotional pain. Weh *is* originally another term for discomfort *and* pain.
Me as german person:where she said,,Sturmfrei,,I thougt she means,the school version(no school bacause of a storm)😂😅
I believe she mistranslated the Word Wanderlust or rather she may have mistakenly described the meaning of "Fernweh" and not Wanderlust.
Fernweh: If you want to travel and Look towards foreign Lands with a sort of longing
Wanderlust: the Joy of Walking/Hiking.
English speakers tend to use the definition for Fernweh for Wanderlust.
Subtitles for "Erbsenzähler" are wrong, she isn't saying "piece" but rather "peas", that's what Erbsen means
But earworm is a word that used in English and it is a literal translation of Ohrwurum.
Sturmfrei - "there's is no reason for older people to use it" Girl your Grandparents used it, your Parents used it, it is not your Generations word ......
5:20
OMG, I know that is a stereotype, but it just so true
One of my german teacher even asked us to count how many words we have written in total during this semester
Others Germany teacher that I meet don’t do it, but they also love to planning things, and everything have a Format, u have to follow the Format they provided
I’m sorry but they just obsessed with planning, details, Format etc
(Which is not a bad things in a certain way? But as a foreigner, I don’t get used to it lol)
btw, Francesca speaks German so elegantly, I learned German for over 3 years, and never imagine German can be that graceful
My stereotype of German pronunciation is just like “It’s a language that sounds serious and stiff.”
I’m sorry, my bad lol
@Hellequin Maskharat can’t agree with u more, I think that’s why Germany can be the top tier when it comes to engineering and stuffs related to this field
Yeah I know Germany have a great legacy in music or poetry etc, but before I study German, the mostly German that I heard are from movies, „Der Untergang“ in specific lol, it might be the reason how I got the stereotype
And even now I still think German is a “serious” feeling type of language, maybe because of the way s, sch, t, h words pronounce
( don’t get me wrong, I love German, but it just the way I feel when hearing people speaks German)
Maybe I should study more literature of Germany haha
In my personal feelings, German is quite like Spanish when it comes to listening and understanding, u can understand it when people speaks slowly (cuz u can hear the whole pronunciation of the words), but when people speaks faster, the words would stick together
That makes me hard to understand it in fast paced speaking scenarios
Hoping that I could conquer this difficulty in the future
I was totally expecting to see "schadenfreude" here as that isn't really translatable either. Great video!
Ohrwurm technically is translatable and it has the exact same meaning ohr is ear and wurm is worm, and ear worm is when you have music stuck in your head involuntary and can be really annoying sometimes I get it a lot
Exactly! I guess the World Friends' people never heard that word before or they wouldn't have included its German version in the video.
@@module79l28 WORM SAME THAT INSECT?
@@EDUARDO-bj9wf - Worms are not insects.
@@module79l28 Ohrwurm is also an insect (earwig).
Wanderlust is a word we have in english, we just took it from Germany. ‘Wander’ is like aimless traveling and ‘lust’ is like desire (in this case); so means a desire to travel. I actually didn’t know we got this word from Germany until this video😅
The thing is.... because in german you just take two words and it becomes a new word, there are trillion words that do not exists in english.
Like, Hefezopfvorkoster
Verschlimbessern or Kaputtreparieren are actual Words..
They are pretty specific but are used for situations, when someone tries to fix something, but makes it worse....
"Backpfeifengesicht" A face that literally begs to be slapped
Da hab ich auch n paar neue deutsche wörter gelernt lol
Backpfeifengesicht basically means "To have a face worth slapping."
It's not used much because basically it never applies to anyone. There is no such thing as a face naturally worth slapping. It's used in a comedic absurdism sense.^^
Sturmfrei seems similar to the Amish rumspringa, the period when an Amish turns 16 and has not yet been baptized and confirmed in the Amish church so they are free to explore their party side till they decide on being Amish or going their own way...
Interestingly here in the UK if we say "this song is an earworm" it means that it's a song that gets stuck in your head, which in German is Ohrwurm. I wonder if that's because Germany and the UK are both in Europe?
That is interesting. Perhaps its because both are germanic languages at the end of the day
“Earworm” exists in American English as well. This video is making the mistake of thinking that because a word is not part of an individual’s vocabulary it is not part of the lexicon.
It's a term borrowed from German. The Germans were using the phrase long before the English
Earworm meaning 'song stuck in your head' was only recently added to the English vocabulary. It is a loan translation from German. 10 or 20 years ago you would have been far less likely to find someone in USA or UK who knows what it means.
@@wZem Actually, Google shows peak interest in the term occurred for about five years starting around 2009, and that it is less common now.
I live in Germany for 10 years now and I never heard Zugzwang until now.
Nor the two "insults" Backpfeifengesicht (although that one I already read once) and Erbsenzähler.
🤔🦷✨ One of my personal favorite German words is for your gums *Zahnfleisch* literal English translation meaning tooth flesh..
Hey megan the only food culture created here in the United States is the cajun cerol food, also the hurricane and the desert bananas foster was created in New Orleans as well.
Also hamburgers, Buffalo wings, lobster rolls, potato chips, and much, much more
@@spk1121 hamburgers were created in Germany, potato chips were invented in the English isles (Scotland mostly), and yes lobster was eaten here in this continent as far back as 15kyrs ago, but, the roll itself wasn't created until very recently..
wow this was sooo interesting !! in italian we have some words that don't have a direct english translation too, but these german ones were oddly specific lol, loved them and the vid !
Probably each language has some words that can not be directly translated into other languages.
For example there are no German words for 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'. While for married people there are words the non-married relationship status is usually handled with possessive pronouns.
@@patrickm3981 yeahh i believe so too. for how similar too languages can be, there's always at least a word that cannot be translated
@@elisapennYes this is very likely.
Just for fun I will add another word not mentioned in the video that exist in German but not in English. This word is 'Kaiserwetter'. Literally translated this is 'Emperor weather' and its meaning is sunny weather where the sky is deep blue with not clouds. It is used when there are perfect weather conditions.
It is debated where this word originates from but either from the German emperor Wilhelm II or from emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria (or maybe from both). Apparently it was that when the German emperor showed up at an event then there was good weather (or probably the other way around, that he only showed up when there was good weather) which solidified the connection between good weather and the emperor. Beside this the Austrian emperor had his birthday at August 18th which was celebrated each year. As at this day there was almost every year very good weather and due to the fact Franz-Joseph was emperor for almost 68 years people also made a connection between the emperor and good weather.
@@patrickm3981 that's very interesting, thank you for your addition ! in italy we just say “è tempo bello” which literally translates into "it's good weather" but yeah, it's got the same meaning
Sturmfrei...
There is a reason for older people to use it.
Like when you are married and and partner is on a weekend vacation and you can invite all or friends and do gaming, eating chips and drink beer the whole Saturday.
Or if you are a couple and the kids are not at home for periode of time so that you can have sex without interruption
I have heard english speakers use "earworm". Granted, it was mostly by expats living in germany for some time, but still...
And about "Erbsenzähler": It's even that common that we have synonyms which are no less ridiculous like "korinthenkacker" (literally: "raisin shitter")
For “wanderlust” we just say the same word in English but pronounced as if it were an English word.
Now I want to know the words in sign language that have no direct translation to English!
I thought sturmfrei is the word you use when you can come home early from school because there is a storm or something like that, at least that is how everyone used it, even teachers and students used it (I live in Germany, I know what I am talking about)
Americans have hotdogs and steak and pork chops but we have that in Canada as well and both Canada and America have chicken
Erbsenzähler in Dutch , or Flemish , I don't know if they say that in the Netherlands , is " Muggenzifter" , what means Mosquito Sifter? - Fault finder .
German Americans are the largest ancestry group in the US.
About 43 million citizens of the USA (15% of the total population) have German ancestry. In some regions, for example the upper Midwest, it's even as high as 30%. No wonder some German words made it into (American) English.
no it is englisch they were there first and made Usa
right. Because of WW1 and WW2, the ethnic Germans gave up more and more of their culture and language, because Germanophobia was very strong in the US. Resentment also existed during the Civil War, because the majority of them stayed out of it and rejected slavery before. Today, they are more aware of their roots again.
@@heidi_bavarian1725 It’s not the English
I thought the statistics said that it was Irish first.
@@heidi_bavarian1725 The English first settled what would become the East Coast of the United States but much of the interior - now known as the Midwest and Great Plains - was settled by German and Irish immigrants.
Francesca was on something🤣
You got it, man, it's obvious :)
if Francesca is my German tutor I will learn the language pretty quickly
Nice and funny video 👍🏻 And she has at least made an effort to pronounce the words correctly👌🏻
4:34 Erbsen means "peas" (the food), not "piece". Maybe you should let someone that knows German look over the subtitles when they're done. But nice video.
There is a translation for "Erbsenzähler" tho: bean counter.
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In Dutch ohrwurm/oorwurm is also an insect
Persnickety; would be The closest English Equivalent to Erbsenzähler. :)
Ohrwurm translates pretty directly right? Earworm
the subtitles for "Erbsenzähler" are a little off,
"Erbsen" are peas, not pieces
I am german and never heard of "verschlimmbessern" before 🤣🤣
Ist in der Politik doch Grundvokabular. Wirft alle Nase lang einer dem anderen vor.
English is basically a Germanic language. For example Croatian has 80% words based on other language mostly based on: German, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian and Russian.
6:39 but wanderlust exists in English! Its even written the same way.
That's because it is a loanword like Kindergarten, Zeitgeist, etc. The components are still German.